House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-02 Daily Xml

Contents

CHILD ABUSE

In reply to Mr PISONI (Unley) (27 June 2008) (Estimates Committee B).

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide): The Department of Education and Children's Services has provided the following information:

1. The current system for making mandatory reports in South Australia is through the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) which is a unit within the Department for Families and Communities (DFC).

The Department of Education and Children's Services (DECS) does not maintain a central data base of notifications additional to that held by DFC.

2. As the confidentiality of the identity of the mandatory notifier is assured under the Child Protection Act 1993, there are no records maintained in DECS about the number of students that have been subject to a mandatory report.

Individual learning plans are put in place in situations where concerns are identified and students require further support in their learning or wellbeing.

3. It is not possible to answer this question as there is no database of such assistance. Schools make decisions locally as part of their daily business to respond to emerging and varying needs for additional support for children and students. To maintain the confidentiality of mandatory notification, schools would not record any decisions as related to a mandatory notification status.